Swaging machine



Aug. 16, 1938. E. ROMANELLI SWAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 21, 1935 4Sheets-Sheet 1 U... 2 m m m M? M .A 5% B Aug. 16, 1938. E. ROMANELLISWAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 21, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 5.fiamwau. BY M ATTORNEY E. ROMANELLI 2,126,923

SWAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 21, 1935 4-Sheets-$heet 4 NIH" ATTORNEYPatented Aug. 16, 1938 STATES PATENT OFFICE SWAGING MACHINE ApplicationFebruary 21, 1935, Serial No. 7,483

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a swaging machine and, more particularly, toone for swaging tungsten slugs or bars to be drawn into wire form.

Swaging machines as commonly employed include a relatively long spindlehaving a fly-wheel mounted at one end. The other end of the spindle isusually enlarged and slotted to receive dies and hammers. The dies andhammers move freely and radially in the spindle slot. Around theenlarged end of the spindle is disposed a series of rolls backed upby ahardened head ring. The rolls are uniformly spaced in a cage and as thespindle is rotated the hammers and dies are thrown outwardly bycentrifugal force. As the spindle rotates, however, the hammers contactwith the rolls with the result that the dies are forced against thematerial which is thus compressed or swaged.

In machines as heretofore used in which it was the practice to mount thefly-wheel atone end of the spindle, the material to be swaged being fedin through the opposite end, relatively long hearings were required forthe spindle and any play or lost motion would result in considerablevibration. Furthermore, machines of this character require aconsiderable amount of space and are on the whole cumbersome and, Whenusing such machines to swage a tungsten body into a rod to be drawn intoa'wire, it becomes inconvenient to handle the swaged wire and alsosomewhat difficult to feed the body which is preferably delivered to thehammers directly from a furnace. The addition of a furnace to swagingmachines as heretofore constructed" would increase the length of themachine.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an effective andcompact swaging machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a swaging machine in whichthe swaging elements are mounted on the axis of rotation and arecentrally located with respect to a fly-wheel.

A further object of the invention is to so arrange and correlate theoperating elements as to prevent detrimental vibration.

A still further object of the invention is to provide'a combined furnaceand swaging machine so arranged as to facilitate the delivery of heatedmaterial to be swaged from the furnace to said machine.

Another object of the invention is to providea multiple furnace adaptedto simultaneously heat one article to be swaged and deliver anotherarticle to a swaging machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearlyunderstood by reference to the following description together with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a machine constructed in acordancewith the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevational view of the machine shown inFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the machine showing the swagingelements and heating ovens;

Fig. 4 is a view taken on line IVIV in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 shows a pair of movable ovens each in a separate furnace and Fig.6 is a single movable furnace having two ovens.

A machine constructed in accordance with the present invention may, asshown in Fig. 1, include swaging mechanism Ill comprising a casing l lcarried on a frame or support structure I2 of the machine. Thisstructure may include a base plate l3 and a frame work M on which thevarious elements are mounted.

The casing I! may have a removable cover plate I5 of circular form toenclose a weighted pulley or fly-wheel IS. The fly-wheel may be mountedto rotate on anti-friction means, such as ball-races ll and I8, whichraces are mounted on an annulus IS in which the swaging mechanism issupported. This annulus is rigidly mountedin the casing l l and a flangepiece 2!] is bolted thereto and extends inwardly to retain certain ofthe swaging elements. Inasmuch as the fly-wheel rotates at relativelyhigh speed, a large amount of'work is done by the dies, and considerableheat is generated, the annulus i9 is, therefore, provided with a liquidpassage 20 and an inlet pipe 2! maysupply oil or other cooling fluid tothe passage, which fluid is removed by outlet pipe 22. The fluid may bekept in circulation by suitable means to dissipate heat. The swagingelements, including rolls or'rollers 23, hammers 2 1, and dies 25, aresimilar in construc. tion to mechanism heretofore employed in swagingmachines.

In accordance'with the present invention, these elements-are mounted atthe wheel center of thefly-wheel It which, as shown, includes a rim 26,a disk 21 and a hub 28. The disk is secured to the rim by tap-bolts 29and to the hub by tap-bolts 39. 25 are disposed between adiametrically-grooved backer plate 3|, secured by tap-bolts 32 to thehub 28, and a door or plate 33 mounted on a hinge 34 and provided with alatch 35. The door 33 has a conical aperture, the sides of which flareThe hammers 24 and the dies outwardly at an obtuse angle to cooperatewith the correspondingly shaped end of an associated furnace 8|, forreceiving swageable material therefrom without appreciable loss of heat.

The door is provided with a plate 36 which, in conjunction with plate3|, holds the dies in operative relation. The hammers, which with thedies 25 are movably mounted in a corresponding diametrical groove in theplate 3i, shown vertical in Fig. 4, are held for radial movement by pins31 which extend into enlarged apertures 38 to allow free and sufficientmovement of the hammers under the action of the rolls 23. The rolls areheld between cage rings 38 and head rings 39. The rollers 23 are, asshown, mounted about the annulus l8 and so arranged as to engage thehammers 24, which in turn engage the dies 25 as the dies and hammersrotate with the fly-wheel. The centrifugal force moves the dies andhammers outwardly and as the rollers strike the hammers the dies areforced inwardly, thus producing the swaging operation. This constructionis well known in the swaging art.

The fly-wheel I is provided with belt grooves 44 to receive a belt 42driven by a motor 45. A brake device comprising lever arms 46' and 41may be provided to stop the rotation of the flywheel upon a terminationof the swaging operation. The arms 46" and 41 may be pivoted at 48 and49 respectively and a toggle member 5| may be connected to the lowerends of the arms so that when the toggle is extended or straightened byan actuation of a lever 52 the upper ends 53 and 54 of the arms willfrictionally engage opposite sides of the fly-wheel to terminate itsmovement. The arm 52 is pivoted at 48 and connected at one end to anarmature 5|] of a solenoid 50'.

The circuit including the solenoid may be so arranged with respect tothe motor that when the motor operates to rotate the fly-wheel thearmature moves to rock the arm 52 to permit a spring 5| to break thetoggle 5| and release the brake. When the current is cutoff and themotor is not operating, the solenoid causes the arm 52 to actuate thetoggle to move ends 53 and 54 of arms 48' and 41 and terminate therotation of the fly-wheel.

It has also been found practical to provide the solenoid with a separatecircuit in which case the armature of the solenoid may be actuated bymeans of -a push button to cause current to energize the coils of thesolenoid and thus move the arm 52 causing the brake to act. The ends 53and '54 of the arms may be :provided with suitable friction pads tofacilitate the braking operation.

Materialor stock such asa rod 55 of tungsten is fed to the dies throughthe doorway and after being subjected to the swaging operation is removed by means of force rollers 56 and 51 between which the swagedmaterial is fed.

The forcerollers 55 and 5|-may be mounted one above the other in bearingbrackets '58 adjacent to the outlet side of the swaging dies. Eachroller is provided with agear wheel59 in mesh. A shaft 6| of the lowerroller is provided with'a worm wheel 62 in mesh with a worm 63 (seeFig. 1) on a shaft 64. The shaft 64 is provided with a pulley 85 havinga belt86 leading over a pulley 67 at one end of'the motor shaft 44. Thuswhen the motor 45 operates todrive the'fly wheel the pulley 61 operatesto transmit rotary motion to the rollers'56 and-51. "An idler roller 68is provided to take-upany slack in'the belt 65. The bearing boxes for"the upper roller are slidable 'in the brackets 58 and a spring 69 holdsthe rollers in the desired gripping relation. The dimensions of thepulleys 65, 61 and the worm and worm wheel may be so proportioned withrespect to the pulley 43 which drives the flywheel that the swagedmaterial will be discharged in the proper time relation to the swagingoperation.

Although the present swaging machine may used for swaging articles ofvarious forms such as tubes, rods, etc., it is especially adapted toswage tungsten rods taken directly from a furnace. In accordance withthe present invention, therefore, the present apparatus includes aportable furnace H which cooperates with the swaging mechanism tofacilitate the swaging of heated rods.

The furnace ll includes a plurality of ovens preferably indicated by thereference numerals I2 and I3 and is mounted on transverse brackets 14provided with wheels movable on tracks IS. The tracks 76 are mounted ona carriage ll having wheels 18 movable along tracks 19 secured to thestationary frame of the machine. The tracks 19 are arranged to permit amovement of the furnace to and from the swaging head and, by reason ofthe tracks 76, the furnace may be adjusted sidewise to position an ovenin alignment with the swaging dies so that a rod of suitable materialmay be fed directly from the oven for a swaging operation. The ovensmay, as shown in Fig. 5, be in separate insulated containers or, asshown in Fig. 6, a single unit may be provided with two or more ovens.

Although the furnace TI may be used directly in cooperation with theswaging machine, it has been found more desirable to provide asupplemental furnace 8|, the delivery end of which is obtusely conicalto fit the conical aperture in the door 33, the apex of said end beingon the axis of the delivery aperture therefrom, having an oven 82 heldstationary with respect to the carriage H.

The ovens l2 and I3 being movable as above described, may be adjusted toalign a rod of material to be swaged. Oven "12 for example may bealigned with the oven 82, or a rod 55 in the oven 13 may be aligned withthe oven 82. The oven 82 being in permanent operative alignment with theswaging diesserves not only as a means of keeping the stock at therequired temperature up to the point of swaging, but also serves as aguideway for directing the stock to the swaging dies.

The furnaces may be of any suitable construction and, in the selectedembodiment shown, each furnace includes a casing filled with magnesiumoxide powder 83, or othersuitable insulating material, through whichextends an oven comprised of a refractory tube, preferably an alunclumtube 84, having a winding 85 of a resistance or high meltingpointmaterial, such as molybdenum wire, as a heater. Means in the form ofperforated pipes 86 and 81 are provided to admit hydrogen to protect theheater elements.

The presentinvention makes it possible to perform a substantiallycontinuous swaging operation on material heated to -a uniformtemperature since, while one piece of material is being swaged, anotheris being heated. The portability of theovens'notonly facilitates thedelivery of the material to the dies, but, by reason of the constructionshown, the entire furnace assembly may be moved on carriage 11, awayfrom the swaging heat topermit access to the swaging elements.

It is -important in the swaging of certain materialssuch as =tung'stento be drawn into lamp filament wire that the piece being swaged be keptat a constant temperature. This is made possible in the present machineand results in uniformity in the crystal arrangement of the swaged metalto the end that an improved product is attained.

It is also possible to provide uniformity in the degree of swagingsince, by reason of the positive feed provided in the form of the forcerollers 58 and 51, a constant travel per unit of length per minute ispossible and the quality and uniformity of the swaged article isimproved.

Although a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and describedherein, it is to be understood that modifications may .be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

What is claimed:

l. 'A swaging machine comprising a casing, an annular member mounted inand connected to one side of said casing, a fly-wheel enclosed in saidcasing and comprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, adisc portion extending therefrom and disposed between the other side ofsaid casing and said annular member, and an outer peripheral portionsecured to the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction meansbetween said annular member and peripheral portion for rotatablymounting said fiy-wheel, a diametrically grooved plate carried by saidhub portion, die means movably mounted in said groove, hammers in saidgroove outwardly ofsaid die means, hammer-actuating rollers disposedbetween said annular member and hammers, and a plate secured to saidcasing and holding said die means, hammers and rollers in place.

2. A swaging machine comprising a casing, a hollow annular membermounted in and connected to one side of said casing, means forcirculating cooling fluid through said hollow member, a fly-wheelenclosed in said casing and comprising a hub portion encircled by saidannular member, a disc portion extending therefrom anddisposed betweenthe other side of said casing and said annular member, and an out-erperipheral portion secured to the outer edge of said disc portion,anti-friction means between said annular member and peripheral portionfor rotatably mounting said fly-wheel, a diametrically grooved platecarried by said hub portion, die means movably mounted in said groove,hammers in said groove outwardly of said die means, hammeractuatingrollers disposed between said annular member and hammers, and a platesecured to said casing holding said die means, hammers and rollers inplace, said plate having a conical aperture, the sides of which flareoutwardly at an obtuse angle, for cooperating with the correspondinglyshaped adjacent end of a furnace and receiving material to be swaged bysaid die means.

3. A swaging machine comprising a casing, an annular member mounted inand connected to one side of said casing, a fly-wheel enclosed in saidcasing and comprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, adisc portion extending therefrom and disposed between the other side ofsaid casing and said annular member, and an outer peripheral portionsecured to the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction meansbetween said annular member and peripheral portion for rotatablymounting said flywheel, a diametrically grooved plate carried by saidhub portion, die meansmovably mounted in said groove, hammers in saidgroove outwardly of said die means, hammer-actuating rollers disposedbetween said annular member and hammers, a plate secured to said casingand holding said die means, hammers and rollers in place, and brakemeans comprising levers pivoted intermediate their ends, end portions ofsaid levers passing through openings in said casing, a toggle deviceconnecting the other end portions of said levers, and operating meansfor straightening said toggle device to cause said first mentioned endportions to frictionally engage said fiy-wheel on opposite sides.

4. A swaging machine comprising a base, a casing extending upwardly fromone portion of said base, an annular member mounted in and connected toone side of said casing, a fly-wheel enclosed in said casing andcomprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, a discportion extending therefrom and disposed between the other side of saidcasing and said annular member, and an outer peripheral portion securedto the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction means between saidannular member and peripheral portion for rotatably mounting saidfly-wheel, a diametrically grooved plate carried by said hub portion,die means movably mounted in said groove, hammers in said grooveoutwardly of said die means, hammer-actuating rollers disposed betweensaid annular member and hammers, and a plate secured to said casing andholding said die means, hammers and rollers in place, said plate havinga conicaloutwardly-fiaring aperture for receiving material to be swagedby said die means.

5. A swaging machine comprising a base, a casing extending upwardly fromone end portion of said base, a hollow annular member mounted in andconnected to one side of said casing, a flywheel enclosed in said casingand comprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, a discportion extending-therefrom and disposed between the other side of saidcasing and said annular member, and an outer peripheral portion securedto the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction means between saidannular member and peripheral portion for rotatably mounting saidfly-wheel, a diametricaily grooved plate carried by said hub portion,die means movably mounted in said groove, hammers in said grooveoutwardly of said die means, hammer-actuating rollers disposed betweensaid annular member and hammers, a plate secured to said casing andholding said die means, hammers and rollers in place, said plate havinga conical outwardly-flaring aperture for receiving material to be swagedby die means, rollers disposed on the side of said die means opposite tothat adjacent said furnace, and electrical power means for driving saidfly-wheel and said rollers simultaneously, for swaging said material anddrawing it through said die means.

6. A swaging machine comprising a base, a casing extending upwardly fromone end portion of said base, a hollow annular member mounted in andconnected to one side of said casing, means for circulating coolingfluid through said hollow member, a fly-wheel enclosed in said casingand comprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, a discportion extending therefrom and disposed between the other side of saidcasing and said annular member, and an outer peripl'ieral portionsecured to the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction meansbetween said annular member and peripheral portion for rotatablymounting said fly-wheel, a diametrically grooved plate carried by saidhub portion, die

means movably mounted in said groove, hammers in said groove outwardlyof said die means, hammer-actuating rollers disposed between saidannular member and hammers, and a plate secured to said casing andholding said die means, hammers and rollers in place.

7. A swaglng machine comprising a base, a casing extending upwardly fromone end portion of said base, a hollow annular member mounted in andconnected to one side of said casing, means for circulating coolingfluid through said hollow member, a flywheel enclosed in said casing andcomprising a hub portion encircled by said annular member, a discportion extending therefrom and disposed between the other side of saidcasing and said annular member, and an outer peripheral portion securedto the outer edge of said disc portion, anti-friction means between saidannular member and peripheral portion for rotatably mounting saidfly-wheel, a diametrically grooved plate carried by said hub portion,die means movably mounted in said groove, hammers in said grooveoutwardly of said die means, ham mer-actuating rollers disposed betweensaid annular member and hammers, a plate secured to said casing andholding said die means, hammers and rollers in place, rollers disposedon the side of said die means opposite to that adjacent said furnace,electrical power means for driving said fly-wheel and said rollerssimultaneously, for swaging said material and drawing it through saiddie means, brake means passing through an open ing in said casing foririctionally engaging said fly-wheel, and circuits for said electricalpower means and brake means, whereby said brake means is released whensaid power means is energized.

EMILIO ROMANELLI.

